Sampling Oscilloscope Questions and Answers

1. How are the PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes different from
normal digital storage oscilloscopes?
Digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs) work by sampling the input signal at regular
intervals. The samples are then reconstructed to draw a picture of the signal, as
illustrated in Fig. 1. The samples must be taken frequently enough to capture the fastest
variations in the signal. This technique is called real-time sampling.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 1 Real-time sampling. (a) Original signal. (b) Scope samples signal at regular
intervals. (c) Samples are stored in memory. (d) Scope draws approximation of signal
using stored samples.

A sampling oscilloscope is a special type of oscilloscope that uses a technique called

sequential time sampling. This type of sampling is best suited to repetitive waveforms or
those that are derived from a regular clock, such as serial data streams, clock
waveforms and pulses in digital circuits, semiconductor test patterns, and amplifier
pulse-response and rise-time tests. Signals like these tend to have very high bandwidths
or high data rates. A sampling scope captures just one sample from one trigger event,
typically a single cycle of the waveform or clock, and then repeats the process over a
large number of cycles, varying the timing of the sample by a small increment from one
sample to the next. The resulting collection of samples is then assembled into a picture
of a typical cycle.

Fig. 2 Sequential time sampling. One sample is taken from each triggered event in a
sequence. The samples are assembled to form a composite waveform.

The advantage of a sampling scope is that even with input signals in the gigahertz range,
the output of the sampler is at a much lower frequency, typically in the audio frequency
band. This allows high-fidelity, low-frequency amplifiers and ADCs to be used to capture
the signal. For example, the PicoScope 9300 Series can capture waveforms up to 20 GHz
with high precision (16-bit resolution before scaling and processing). A real-time DSO
that could capture a single cycle of the same 20 GHz waveform would be prohibitively

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Sampling Oscilloscope Questions and Answers

expensive. For example the 20 GHz Agilent DSOX92004A, with a real-time sampling rate
of 80 GS/s, has a base price of $177,000 almost 12 times the price of the PicoScope
9301 while yielding only 4 samples per cycle. The PicoScope 9300 Series, sampling at an
effective rate of 15 THz, would yield 750 samples per cycle of the same waveform.

A further benefit is that every sample point in the sequential sampling process is timed
from the trigger event, and therefore from the original signal, rather than derived from
an internal oscillator. Sampling jitter is therefore vastly reduced compared to the single-
trigger, clock-derived sampling of the real-time DSO counterpart.

2. Are the PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes digital signal analyzers
(DSAs)?
Yes. Some manufacturers use that term for sampling scopes that are aimed at the digital
signal market. We chose to call the PicoScope 9000 Series sampling oscilloscopes
because they are more versatile than purely digital instruments: they can also be used
to analyze repetitive analog waveforms.

3. What is the difference between the real-time sampling rate of a DSO and the
effective sampling rate of a sampling oscilloscope?
The real-time sampling rate of an oscilloscope is the rate at which its ADC can reliably
sample the input waveform. If you wish to capture a single event such as a one-off glitch
in a digital circuit, the oscilloscope has only one chance to acquire enough samples to
represent the waveform accurately. In such cases, there is no substitute for an
oscilloscope with a high real-time sampling rate. A common rule of thumb is that at least
10 samples are needed for each cycle of the waveform. For example, if the signal in
question is a 2 GHz square wave, then a scope with a real-time sampling rate of at least
20 GS/s would be needed to capture a realistic-looking picture. For accurate analysis of
the timing and shape of the waveform, as required in mask testing, several hundred
samples are needed. This would entail a real-time sampling rate of 200 GS/s or more,
which is beyond the capabilities of todays off-the-shelf instruments and, even if such a
scope existed, it would be prohibitively expensive.

The effective sampling rate of a sampling oscilloscope is not a measure of the speed of
its ADC; it is the accuracy with which it can reconstruct a waveform using its sampling
and timing circuitry. PicoScope sampling oscilloscopes use dedicated hardware to provide
sequential time sampling (STS). STS inserts a precisely defined delay between the
trigger event and the sampling instant and then increments the delay by a small time
difference from one trigger/sample pair to the next. This creates a sequence of samples
at predictable, equally spaced and potentially very short intervals.

In STS mode, thanks to their highly accurate timing circuitry and low sampling jitter, the
fastest PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes can achieve a timing resolution,
also called effective sampling interval, as short as 64 femtoseconds (64 x 10-15 s). This
can also be expressed as an effective sampling rate of 15 terasamples per second
(15 x 1012 S/s).

The PicoScope 9000 Series provides an alternative sampling mode called equivalent-time
sampling (ETS). ETS uses the random drift of the internal sampling clock with respect to
the signal to create an unpredictable sampling delay. The oscilloscope measures the
delay between the trigger and the internal clock for each sample and uses it to calculate
the correct time coordinate of the sample. This method is also used in some real-time
Sampling Oscilloscope Questions and Answers

oscilloscopes to emulate a sampling oscilloscope. Its main advantage over ETS is its
ability to capture pre-trigger as well as post-trigger data, but this is at the expense of
the longer and less predictable time needed to accumulate the required number of
samples. ETS mode on the PicoScope 9000 Series gives 4 ns timing resolution and
therefore an effective sampling rate of 250 MS/s for repetitive signals.

Many of todays DSOs list both real-time and effective (ETS) sampling rates in their
specifications. When choosing an oscilloscope, you need to make sure that both sampling
rates are adequate for your application.

4. Can I use the PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes in general test and
measurement applications?
The PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes are not intended to replace the
general-purpose oscilloscope on your workbench. The main differences between
oscilloscopes in the PicoScope 9000 Series and a general-purpose scope are as follows:

SMA and 2.92 mm input connectors. General-purpose scopes usually have BNC
connectors on their inputs, but these connectors do not have a well-defined
impedance above about 2 to 3 GHz. SMA connectors are better suited to high-
frequency signals and are widely used in microwave applications.
50 ohm inputs. The PicoScope 9000 Series have low-impedance inputs that work
well with low-impedance probes and active probes. The low input impedance is
necessary to ensure that we receive the signal that we wish to measure, rather than
reflecting a significant proportion of it back to the source. Most instruments designed
for signals above about 500 MHz have input and output impedances of 50 . High-
impedance passive probes are not suitable for use with these instruments.
2 volt safe input range. The sensitive, highbandwidth input circuitry of the
PicoScope 9000 Series does not allow the same wide range of input voltages as
found on general-purpose scopes. If your signal is larger than 1 volt (the maximum
measuring range) then you must use an external attenuator. You must also be aware
that sampling oscilloscope inputs are susceptible to electrostatic discharge (ESD)
damage. A DSO typically includes switched but slower attenuators and amplifiers to
achieve greater dynamic range (at the expense of fidelity and bandwidth), and these
make it less susceptible to ESD.
Unique DSO capability. The PicoScope 9000 Series scopes are optimized for use as
sequential sampling and random equivalent time oscilloscopes. Their design is
focused on achieving very high effective sampling rates and very low sampling jitter.
However, uniquely among sampling scopes, they can also operate in a real-time
mode with trigger and sampling modes similar to a DSO and a transient sampling
rate of 1 MHz. This allows convenient probing of LF signals into the tens of megahertz
without the need for a separate trigger.
Dedicated software. The software supplied with the PicoScope 9000 Series is
designed to work only with sampling oscilloscopes. It provides advanced display
features such as eye diagrams and histograms, and specialised measurements and
industry-standard mask tests that do not apply to real-time oscilloscopes. This
software is very different from PicoScope 6, our general-purpose oscilloscope
software, in both appearance and function.
Sampling Oscilloscope Questions and Answers

5. What is the difference between direct and prescaled trigger on a sampling

oscilloscope and the trigger or external trigger on a DSO?

A sampling oscilloscope requires a separate trigger input, either from an external clock
signal or derived from the data signal by a clock recovery module. PicoScope 9000
Series oscilloscopes have two trigger inputs. The Direct Trigger is a full-function trigger
input with a bandwidth of 1 to 2.5 GHz, and is applied directly to the trigger circuitry.
This input allows variable slope, hysteresis and trigger level. The HF (Prescaled) Trigger
input passes through an internal frequency divider before being applied to the trigger
circuitry. This input has a higher bandwidth, from 10 to 14 GHz, but lacks the
adjustments available on the Direct Trigger input.

Many DSOs have an external trigger input but, in contrast to sampling oscilloscopes, in
many cases they can also trigger on the input signal itself without the need for a
separate trigger signal.

6. What is the histogram function for?

Fig. 3 Histogram. A vertical histogram shows the signal density as a function of

voltage, and helps to visualise noise.

The PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes can collect large numbers of
waveforms and perform statistical analysis on them. The results of the analysis can be
displayed as histograms against voltage (vertical histograms) or time (horizontal
histograms). A vertical histogram shows how much time the signal spends at each
voltage level, and is useful for visualising RMS noise and noise margins; while a
horizontal histogram shows how much time is spent at each time interval and indicates
RMS jitter and timing margins. Histograms help you to visualize the quality of your signal,
but if you prefer you can also get statistics in numerical form by using the built-in
statistics functions. The histogram analysis is performed on the area defined by a box
Sampling Oscilloscope Questions and Answers

drawn around the waveform, allowing statistical focus on a narrow time slice, a narrow
voltage slice (or threshold) through to the entire displayed waveform.

7. Prices starting from less than $10,000? Whats the catch?

There are no hidden extra costs. When you buy a PicoScope 9000 Series Sampling
Oscilloscope, you get a complete system: the front-end hardware to plug into your USB
port, a mains power adapter, and Windows-based software for your PC. You just provide
the computer. You also get valuable extra services: free, time-unlimited support from
our technical specialists, and free software updates for as long as we continue to support
the product.

Of course, every lab needs more than just a scope. You will need cables, connectors, and
possibly coaxial dividers and attenuators, but these are all application-specific and you
are likely to have them on your shelf anyway.